Time Will Heal Your Heart
by ghostiprince
Summary: A high school love story gone awry. Road / Lavi.
1. Prologue

A warm tingling sensation on his lips registered in Lavi's brain. It took a while to realize and process what had just happened; though the whole process part took a while.  
He slowly brought his hand to brush against his lips. What was this feeling brewing inside of his chest? His eyes then glance down at his hand; there wasn't anything on it, then why were his lips warm and wet?

Lavi stood stock still in the middle of a park walkway. His mind was so frazzled and that he hadnt realized how dark it had gotten outside. The eerie yellow street lamps turned on, shinning right next to him, casting their glow on him. Lavi glanced over and walked that was as if an invisible force was pulling and guiding him closer. Under the glow of the lamp, he was still looking with a confused expression at his hand. His steady breath made a puff of white air in the cold night. Lavi's current brain state made him think that if he stared down his hand long enough that the answer to his questions would come to him.

What woke Lavi from his very important stating contest was the familiar ring of his cell phone playing Marina and the Diamonds. Shaking his head, Lavi reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He checked the collar ID, letting the light of his phone illuminate his face. After the fifth ring he decided to answer.

"Hey there," greeted Lavi, slipping back to his normal, not shellshocked, self. A smile spread across his lips and he breathed out heavily, another white cloud of fog float from his mouth.

"Where are you? Your parents have been knocking on my door for the past hour asking where you are?" The heated voice cause Lavi off guard and he paused a while before replying; apparently he took too long to answer because the voice continued to reprimand and scold him. Lavi cringed at the shrill tone that was taken; he actually had to lower the sound of his phone so his ears wouldn't be permanently damaged.

"Calm down. Everything's all right. I'm just chilling at the park," he said and stuffed one cold hand into his jacket pocket. He hadn't realized how cold it got at night; the temperature had dropped twenty-six degrees since earlier; was he ever thankful that he had grabbed his jacket this morning.

"Do you even know what time it is?!" His efforts were in vain, and only proved to upset the caller more. Sometime Lavi wished he could just throw away his phone and all contact to the world around him. Sometimes he just needed to get away.

When he didn't reply the voice got angrier and less coherent. He no longer cared what he was getting yelled at for. Lavi tuned out the rant coming from his phone; instead he started wandering the deserted park, counting how many lit street lamps he could find.

In the darkness of night he found the park very relaxing compared to during the day when it was inhabited by screaming kids, barking dogs, and the like. It felt like a whole other world now; a world where things were silent except for the crickets and owls and other nocturnal animals. Lavi would have been at peace right now if his phone would stop yelling at him. He sighed and put the phone back to his ear.

"Okay, okay. See you tomorrow at school, Yuuchan." He then ended the call and closed his phone, putting it back in his pocket. Lavi groaned, thinking of what would happen tomorrow when he faced Kanda after hanging up so rudely like that. Kicking a stone with his shoe, he decided to not dwell on thoughts like that for now.

After walking around the park for another hour he settled down on a cold park bench. Retrieving his phone, he checked the time; it was quarter to eleven. Lavi groaned the leaned back.

The stars shinned bright like rows of LED lights hung randomly in the sky. The crisp night air seemed to help him clear his mind of unwanted thoughts; it let him focus on the major event of today.

She had kissed him. It had been a real surprise when her warm lips touched his; after all it was his first kiss, well first kiss with a girl anyway. Lavi would admit that when he was younger he kissed his beat friend, Yuuchan, a few times but they were kids back then and it didn't mean anything.

He didn't know what to make of his feelings. When they had kissed he had felt his heart pick up pace, but that might have just been because it was his first kiss since he was little. It's not like they had any deep chemistry or history. She had just transferred to his school one weeks ago, and she had just moved to this state two weeks prior. Lavi barely knew her but here he was contemplating their kiss, maybe even contemplating asking her out.

Groaning he sat up and checked the time; it was about midnight. He was getting cold and his parents were likely to murder him if he showed up any later, so Lavi decided to start walking home. Luckily he lived only three blocks from the park. He knew he was in for a scolding when he got home and maybe he'd get grounded for a few days.

On his way home he passed Kanda's house; Kanda lived three houses down from him. This got Lavi wondering about what Kanda would do to him at school; maybe he should bring bandaids or tell Allen to all the paramedics first. Allen was Kanda's step brother; the two had a bipolar kind of relationship; sometimes they got along really well, other times they were at each other's throats.

Lavi knew that he could trust Allen with his life. Also Allen was well known at the hospital so Lavi could get treatment quickly if he needed it. So far he hadn't needed any immediate medical attention because of Kanda, but he never knew how things would turn out, so better safe than sorry.

Standing in front of his door Lavi got out his keys and jingled them in the door knob till it unlocked. He tried to be extra quiet; maybe he could sneak to his room without his parents finding out. He was sure out of luck then since as soon as he shut the door behind him his parents were standing in the foyer looking disgruntled.

The first words that left Lavi's mouth was, "I'm sorry!" Obviously that wasn't what they wanted. His dad pointed to his room and said that Lavi was grounded for one week. Lavi didn't even try to argue because he knew they were right and he had come to the decision that he'd accept whatever punishment they gave him, so he sighed and trudged to his room.

At least it was warm inside. Once he got to his room, Lavi kicked off his shoes and threw off his jacket, then rolled onto his bed; now he just lay there in his jeans and t-shirt ready to think about whatever crossed his sixteen year-old mind. Three minutes passed and his stomach gurgled; Lavi then remembered that he hadn't eaten in twelve hour, he should probably get some food.

Cautiously he peeked outside his door; his parents were watching TV in the family room and it was a clear dash to the fridge. Lavi decided to risk it and made a break as quietly as he could to the kitchen. On his way he had almost slipped but caught himself. He did a quick over the shoulder glance then opened the fridge and grabbed the first thing he saw and ran back.

The door made a soft click as he closed it. Lavi momentarily just pressed his back against the door; that had been a heart racing mission as usual. Sliding down to the floor Lavi took some time to actually see what he had gotten.

He had grabbed a container of cold leftover lemon chicken mixed with rice and roasted vegetables. Lavi sighed thankful that he had grabbed edible food this time. Getting up from his position on the floor he shuffled through a mess of loose leaf paper and textbooks on his way to his desk. He grabbed a fork from his desk drawer and sat down on the edge of his bed to eat.

Getting sent to his room without supper was a common thing when he got in trouble so Lavi had planned ahead and stored silverware in his drawers. He also stored soda in a mini fridge, that he had purchased in secret, in his closet behind his clothes.

Cracking open a can of soda Lavi gulped it down, and began eating the cold leftovers. It probably would be better heated up, but Lavi wasn't going to complain right now; he was just satisfying his hunger.

After finishing the food, Lavi left tge container and empty soda can by the other trash: empty chip bags, soda cans, and candy wrappers. He was a growing boy; not to mention a teenager at that. It was practically his job to eat half the fridge and make a mess.

Now content, Lavi laid back in bed and stared up at the ceiling, hoping for sleep to overcome him. He didn't dare check the time; he knew it was sometime around one in the morning probably. Eventually he dozed off and drifted into a pleasant dream.

The blaring of an alarm woke up Lavi. He rolled over and tried to blindly find the snooze button. After a few hits to his alarm clock he managed to hit the snooze button, and rolled over to sleep a few more minutes.

Five minute later his alarm went off again and Lavi rolled around in a futile attempt to sleep more; finally he bolted upright, grabbed his alarm clock and tossed it into a messy pile of papers. Groaning Lavi rubbed at the sleep in his eyes, feeling rather disgruntled.

Untangling himself from his nest of blankets, Lavi ran his hand through his fiery red mess of hair. The wood floor was cold on his bare feet, which didn't motivate him very much to move but soon he got up and shuffled his way to the bathroom to wash up.

Lavi felt refreshed afterwards and came back to his room to grab clothes from his not so neat dresser drawers. Throwing on his favorite pair of blue jeans, which have a pizza stain on them, and a green long-sleeve turtle neck Lavi slipped into his sneakers, grabbed his backpack and left for school with a piece of toast hanging from between his teeth.

He had all but forgotten about rudely hanging up on Kanda the other day; that is till he saw Kanda waiting for him at the school gates. Lavi knew he was in for something, and he had forgotten to tell Allen to be ready to call the hospital for him if Kanda beat him up a lot.

Speaking of Allen, Lavi didn't see his friend anywhere in the vicinity; that wasn't a good sign. Slowing down as he got closer to Kanda, Lavi came to a halt and nervously played with the hem of his shirt.

"...Soooo Yuuchan...how's...the weather?" He laughed nervously trying, and failing, to diverge the main topic. Lavi visibly flinched and took a step back when Kanda glared at him.

"Just fine and how was your night yesterday?" asked Kanda in an irritated tone. Kanda dropped his backpack on the ground and took another predatory step in Lavi's direction.

"...Now slow down their Yuuchan...let's not cause trouble for everyone here..." Lavi held his hands up in the universal sign of surrender, and quickly glanced around at the other students. He hoped that one of them would butt in and stop Kanda. He seemed to be quite out of luck this morning, seeing as everyone just quickly shuffled past him and Kanda. Lavi's last hope was that Allen would miraculously appear and hold Kanda back.

"Cause trouble? For everyone else? DO you know how much trouble you cause me?!" Kanda started yelling and grabbed ahold of Lavi's collar, lifting him up off the ground. Bringing his arms up Lavi tried to shield his face from any punches that were destined to come his way.

Instead of getting his face hit, Lavi got punched in his stomach. That would leave a bruise. The punch took all the air from his lungs and soon he was hunched over on the ground heaving and gasping for air. While he was down Kanda walked away, growling at all the people who had the audacity to stare.

After heaving some more, Lavi spat onto the sidewalk one last time and slowly stood up. At least he had gotten it over with so he could go through the rest of the day without fearing being attacked by Kanda. Lavi grabbed his things and headed into the school building. He headed straight for his first class, calculus.

Finding his seat at the back of the room Lavi sat down and laid his head in his arms. He just needed to take slow, pregnant breathes otherwise his stomach felt like it was on fire. Between his eighty-ninth breathe out and his eighty-eighth suck of air in, Lavi noticed that the classroom was mostly full of students.

He sat up so as not to look like he was taking a snooze first thing in the morning. He had had enough bad things happen already; Lavi didn't need to add detention for sleeping in class to the list. Taking out his notebook and pencil he started taking notes on the mathematical gibberish printed on the front board. After his third page of notes his hand was tired and he decided to idle himself for the rest of class by playing with his pencil. He would pretend it was a skateboard or that it was made of rubber, anything that took his attention from today's lesson.

Finally the bell rung; math had been uneventful. Lavi had no hopes that economics would be any better, except for the fact that Allen was in his class, although they were positioned at opposite ends of the classroom.

On his way to class he bumped into one of the prettiest girls in school, Lenalee; she was a smart and fun loving girl who happened ran with the popular crowd, and had a very overprotective brother in college. She could get any guy in the school to date her with ease, and many people wanted to date her, but her brother made it practically impossible. Lavi had never spoken to her, except for during assigned group projects, since he knew a lost cause when he saw one, though it would be nice to be friends with her.

As predicted economics was boring. Lavi tried to entertain himself by throwing things at Allen. He managed to do it in secret for the first six minute but then he got caught and was told to stop. Lavi grumbled something incoherent, but finally did stopped using Allen's head as target practice for the small miscellaneous items that he had in his backpack.

After class Lavi got a light punch to his shoulder from Allen. He grinned and punched Allen back in a friendly manner.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Lavi wasn't surprised by how sudden and off topic the question was; he simply answered that he was fine, nothing time couldn't heal. Allen who had been genuinely concerned, seemed relieved by the answer.

"So where were you when I was getting roughed up by Yuuchan? Hmmmm?" he asked in an accusatory tone; being taller would be useful right now, so he could stare down Allen for the proper effect. If only he was as tall as Kanda; instead he was stuck at the measly height of five-foot-six, perfectly even with Allen. Lavi really was hoping for one last growth spurt.

He noticed Allen's face turn a bright shade of red. Now he knew Allen was guilty of something, and Lavi had a pretty good guess of what it was. Allen even tried to fake cough and change the subject, but Lavi would have none of that.

"You were stuffing your face weren't you," he accused. He knew he had hit his mark when Allen jolted.

"N-No...What would lead you to that answer...?" It only took one skeptic look from Lavi to crush Allen's weak diversion. "Okay. I was," admitted Allen as he hung his head for effect.

Lavi sighed and said, "Well next time you better be there to back me up...or call the ambulance.." He shuddered at the thought of going to the hospital all broken and bloody, though going to the hospital would be better than dying in the middle of the sidewalk. Pushing that thought to the side he grinned and said his goodbye to Allen since his class was on a different floor.

Third period, meaning chemistry for Lavi. At last a class Lavi actually enjoyed and paid attention in. Also it was his class where he could have a break from everyone he knew; it was just him and the periodic table. The class whizzed by; before he even knew it he bell had rung and it was time for fourth period, which was art. As usual he paid no mind to the class.

Then it was lunch. On his way to join Allen for lunch, Lavi spotted someone and ran ahead to pull them over.

"H..Hey.." This couldn't be any more awkward. Lavi stumbled through a greeting, trying to be casual.

"S-So...about that kiss...um..I was wondering if...maybe...you'd like to go out?"

He shut his eyes and crossed his fingers in anticipation for the worst. This was the first time he'd ever asked someone out, so he was really nervous.

Soft fingers cupped his cheek and before he knew it his lips were flush against moist pink ones; and then they were gone. "I'd like that," replied her quiet, caring voice as she walked away. "Sorry I have to catch up to my friends!" Like the wind she was gone.

In the excitement of the moment Lavi did a little happy dance. She had said yes! He was ecstatic, unable to contain his joy. He was sixteen and in high school, nothing was better than getting a girlfriend.

Lavi was practically prancing to meet Allen, he was so giddy. "Allen! Guess what! I have a girlfriend!"

Between mouthfuls of food Allen asked, "Who?"

"The new girl, Mimi."


	2. Chapter 1

Two years. It had been two years since Lavi Bookman started dating Mimi Kaida.

It was senior year and Lavi couldn't wait to get out and go to college. He wasn't sure what he wanted to major in, though probably something history related. Earlier he had said that he wanted to become a chemist, but he had changed since sophomore year.

Likewise, his friend group had changed drastically at the end of junior year. He had started hanging out more with an edgy group of people instead of his best friends, Kanda and Allen. He didn't feel guilty at all for growing apart; he knew Kanda preferred to be distant, and Allen now had Lenalee to occupy his every waking moment. Lavi sometimes wondered how the beansprout had gotten to date, the ever illustrious, Lenalee. As a form of comfort to himself, he decided to believe that Allen just got lucky.

Like many other mornings his alarm clock woke him up at six o'clock sharp. Lavi sluggishly threw off his tangled mess of blankets onto the floor, and slammed his fist on the alarm clock to quiet it. Since tenth grade his room had gotten progressively messier, and filled with more junk that he never used. Lavi refused to let anyone clean it, not like anyone wanted to go into his cave of a room, always saying that he would get to it eventually but he never did. Besides loose leaf papers and textbooks, there was now a growing horde of dirty clothes on the ground mixed in with old pizza boxes and empty soda cans; on his desk were a few half empty beer cans, and a glass or two of water so old that there was mold developing. Also on his nightstand was last nights water glass, and an ashtray with four cigarette butts in it.

He sat up and glanced out the one window in his room. The sun was had barely touched the horizon and he was awake at this ungodly hour. A cool morning breeze flew in through the one inch crack between his window and the windowsill; it was refreshing today, but in the winter it could get pretty bad—bad enough that he would have to take his blankets and go sleep in the living room, curled up by the fireplace. Lavi had tried to close the window himself, but the darn thing was jammed in place like that, so he had to make due.

Running a hand through his red locks, Lavi plopped to the ground and trudged his lanky ass to the bathroom. After washing his face he took a moment to fix his hair so part of it would fall over the right side of his face. As he tried to get the perfect part he noticed a few more freckles speckled across the bridge of his nose. Figuring he'd never get it perfect, he went back to his room to find wearable clothes.

He picked up a green tank top, and tan shorts off his floor. They looked fine to him, so he shed his pajamas and put these on. Lavi exited his room, making a beeline for the kitchen, which was only four to five strides from the bedroom door, at least for him it was. Lavi had gotten that growth spurt he had wanted; now he was five-foot-eleven.

Lavi went to the pantry and picked out the most unhealthy cereal he could find; he picked out one of those cereals with the little marshmallow bits. Glancing at his cell he realized he didn't have time for a sit down meal, so Lavi poured some dry cereal into a plastic baggy and stuffed it in his pocket for later. Jamming his feet into a pair of converse, Lavi called out a goodbye and darted out the door.

On his way to school he was joined by a group people, it was almost like he was a magnet and they were all shards of metal. After making into the school, he went to go sit with the rest of his friends. Of course he took his usual spot by Mimi, who was there early. Lavi turned and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek before saying, "G'Morning."

Mimi smiled, rest her head on his shoulder, and replied, "Good morning."

Lavi smiled, and wrapped an arm around her. He then turned to the group and asked for a copy of the statistics homework, which he had neglected to do the night before. Most of them weren't paying attention, wrapped up in their own little worlds, though Lavi did get one answer. Tyki handed over the statistics homework and Lavi said a quick thank you before he started jotting down the answers. Sometime during his high school career he had made the decision to almost never do his homework, and instead copy the answers off someone else.

After copying most of the answers down Lavi handed Tyki's homework back. Then stuffed the sheet into his bag, planning to forget about it till sixth period. Now was the time to eat breakfast, so Lavi took out his lame plastic bag of cereal. He liked to eat the marshmallows in order of his favorites; first was the red ones, then purple, green, yellow, orange, and last blue. Mimi liked the blue ones the best, so she didn't get why Lavi ate them last. His well crafted excuse was that he saved them for her.

Looking around his little circle of friends he noticed a certain ball of fun missing. "Hey. Where's Road?" asked Lavi. Tyki shrugged and Lulubell shook her head. Jasdero and Devit said they didn't know and didn't care. Lavi was slightly concerned; Road was never usually absent in the mornings without telling one of them, unless she was in trouble or something urgent came up. Lavi felt like he would worry for the rest of the morning if she didn't show up.

"Tyyykkiii do you have any ice? My head is throooobbing," yelled a sugarcoated voice from behind Lavi—if sugarcoated could describe how someone sounded. He tilted his head back and there she was in all her purple glory; Road was standing with her left hand on her hip and her right hand holding three canvases. She had short, spiky purple hair, wore jean shorts with striped stockings underneath, and a button up flannel shirt with the cuffs rolled up that showed off her paint splattered arms. She looked down, and smiled at Lavi; he smiles back.

Road's attention then turned back to whining at Tyki for ice or something cold. Lavi suddenly remembered he had frozen water bottle in his bag that felt like the tundra. He saved Tyki's ass and offered the frozen water to Road; she gracefully accepted it, and held the bottle to her forehead. She leaned her canvases against the wall next to Lavi and sat down, icy water bottle still pressed to her head.

On his other side Mimi poked him to get his attention. "I'm going to go to class, talk to you at lunch," she said as she stood up and grabbed her things. Lulubell also got up and headed out with Mimi. Now there was six.

Lavi glanced around. Tyki seemed content with trying to sleep; Jasdero and Devit were goofing off; Wisely as doing his homework. Lavi checked his cell and noted out loud that the bell for class to start would ring in a minute; and it did. Wisely organized his papers in his binder and left; Jasdero and Devit parted ways for class; Tyki woke up, not that he had actually gotten any sleep, and begrudgingly went to first period; Road picked up her canvases and started heading to class; Lastly Lavi grabbed his bag and went to class.

The rest of the morning was uneventful, except for a few conversations in the hall. At lunch Lavi joined Road and the rest at their usual lunch spot, which was outside under an old maple tree; when it rained or became too cold to sit outside, they sat down in the art hallway by the photography room. Sitting down under the maple tree, Lavi noticed that Mimi and Lulubell were absent.

When he asked, Devit told him that the two were off studying together. That made perfect sense so Lavi let himself participate in idle chatter—often Mimi needed help with her studies since she had really bad focus in class. First he compared statistic notes with Tyki, then complained about his classes to no one in particular, throwing a few jokes in here and there. Near the end of lunch he started focusing more on his conversation with Road.

Resting his head in his hands, Lavi asked Road what kind of college she wanted to attend. She said she wasn't sure yet, but probably an college or university that specialized in art. Lavi nodded and commented that he wanted to major in history, though he didn't know specifically any type of history.

"I'm just not sure that I'm good enough to get into the college I want" said Road as she absentmindedly twirled pasta around her fork. Lavi shook his head, and told her that she was really great and any college would be happy to accept her. Road smiled and hummed contently.

Lavi had total confidence in her. He had seen her art and knew it was top quality. Her portraits and landscapes were able to pull the viewer into the picture; her canvases seemed like they were alive, almost like he could walk right into the painting.

Rifling through her bag, Road pulled out a piece of paper and pen. She quickly scrawled something, then handed Lavi the paper and said, "I don't think you have my number, so here."

He glanced at the number, then tucked the paper away in his pocket. Lavi noticed that Road was getting her things ready to leave; he did the same. He slung his bag over his shoulder,jogged to catch up to her, and asked, "What class do you have next?"

Road gave him a mischievous look and turned to fully face him. "Actually I was thinking of ditching," she stated as she twirled around once, her skull patterned sundress flowing with her momentum, "You want to come with?"

He had never ditched ever in his high school career, so he figured once would be fine; after all it was only one time. Grinning, he replied with an exuberant, "Yes!"

Road clapped her hands in glee and then let them drop to her sides. "That's great! How about we go get some coffee? I know a really cute cafe." Lavi shrugged and said that coffee would be nice.

It was a pleasant day outside; the sun gave off a nice warm gleam and the sky was clear, except for a few clouds drifting off in the distance. A pleasant breeze blew and caught his red hair, causing it to get in the way of his view. Lavi folded his hands behind his head and mock leaned back on them. His good attitude seemed to be contagious since a smile made it's way to Road's lips as she brushed a few stray bangs from her face.

Fifteen minutes later Road and Lavi wandered into the cafe, the little bell on the door signaled their entry. The pair found a table by the window and sat down. When the time came to order Road got a peach and lemon ice-tea, while Lavi got a hazelnut-chocolate coffee and a blueberry muffin. Sometime later their orders arrived with parting words of enjoyment.

Their school bags lay under the table, discarded and forgotten. Lavi just wanted to enjoy the moment and forget about consequences later. Unwrapping his muffin Lavi took a bite, then downed it with the hot coffee. He didn't mind that it was burning his tongue—he found the burning feeling quite pleasant, in fact. Lavi also didn't care that it was August and hot coffee might have been a bad choice; if he wanted his hazelnut-chocolate coffee then he was going to get it.

Slowing down on his food consumption, Lavi paused mid-bite to glanced in Road's direction. He was met by deep brown eyes also looking his way. Lavi almost jumped out of his seat, not expecting her to be staring his way. Then realized that Road wasn't looking at him, she was looking past him at a framed newspaper article on the wall. She looked deep in thought, her straw resting between her parted lips.

A few seconds later she laughed softly and turned her attention back to sipping at her frilly, pink drink. Road then pulled out her phone out, and seemingly replied to a text. Lavi noted that her phone case was a cherry color with lavender, zombie-esque rabbits on it; in his opinion it was cute and very fitting for Road. After finishing the last bite of his muffin Lavi exhaled lightly, and rest his chin on his palm of his hand.

Lavi couldn't help but gaze at her from the corner of his eyes; he didn't want to get noticed ogling at her. Some of the little habits he viewed that her nose scrunched up and the corners of her eyes crinkled when she laughed; she wore the faintest of makeup and really brought meaning to the phrase "less is more"; the way her dark hair spiked in every which way and how it contrasted against her alabaster skin. There was a lot he could learn about a person by just observing.

"...to come over?" Lavi jerked his head up.

Having only heard the last part he had to take a good guess at what she was asking him—he let her know he wasn't paying attention, much less that he had been lost in thought gazing at her. He had been so caught up in admiring her that it hadn't even registered that she was talking to him. He assumed she had invited him over—that made the most sense.

"Sure," he replied, and stood up to throw away his empty cup and wrapper. Lavi also offered to throw away the empty cup in front of Road. She smiled and delicately handed him her finished drink. Throwing away their trash, he went back and picked up his bag. Road already had her messenger bag slung over her shoulder, and had pushed in her seat to be polite.

Grinning as to signal that they were good to go; the pair left the cafe and headed to a nearby bus stop. They could have walked to Road's place, but she seemed adamant that they get there as soon as possible. After seven minutes waiting at the bus stop the bus arrived. They paid the small fee and went to sit at the back of the bus. Road demanded the back facing window seat; Lavi didn't mind so he let her have it.

She kicked her feet back and forth as she looked out the window. Ever so often she'd kick too hard and hit Lavi's shin—the seats that they had picked were facing each other—and he would hiss at the slowly forming bruise. Three stops later Road motioned for Lavi to get up since it was their stop. He nodded and they got off the bus.

Road said her house was only half a block away from the bus stop. Lavi nodded and let her lead the way. He simply followed her, trying to take everything in and memorize the route because why not. In front of him Road trotted along the sidewalk, carefully avoiding the lines in the pavement to amuse herself; it seemed that if she stepped on a line then a hidden trap would go off and cut her legs off, so she looked very concentrated on staying within the squares of concrete. Lavi laughed to himself at her childish endeavor, but at the same time he participated as well.

A walk that should have only taken ten minutes had turned into a twenty minute walk thanks to all their determination to not touch the pavement lines. They finally came to a halt in front of a large, three story house. Road casually went up to the door, slipped her keys in, and went inside. Her house was the complete opposite from Lavi's own abode; he lived in a small one story home with barely enough room for three people to live comfortably, while she practically owned a palace. Lavi almost had to remind himself to not gawk and stare openly because that would be rude, not excluding gawking in private or in a less obvious manner.

The internal design was just as amazing as the external, maybe even better. It felt like a mix of modern layout with an old victorian design; the color scheme was various shades of dark magentas and deep violets. The foyer alone was humongous; it led up three steps to a large wrap around staircase, to the right there was a hallway which led elsewhere, and to the left was a door that he assumed went to the basement. Following Road's example, he carefully placed his shoes by the first step. She momentarily turned back to make sure that he had taken off his shoes. With a subtle nod, she opened the door to the left to revealing stairs, and slowly made her way down them.

At the bottom of the stairs it became a big open studio; paints, chalks, pencils, paper, and canvases were spread out everywhere and a big tarp covered the ground. Road dropped her bag at the base of the stairs and marched into her studio. Once again Lavi followed suit with her example.

As he walked through the maze of art supplies and paintings Lavi was amazed. Road's skill was on a completely different level; her art looked professional, definitely not like something made by a high schooler. Also he thought her sketches said a lot about her personality. Some were rough with the lines etched deep into the paper to reflect the kind of people she associated with; other sketches used big simple shapes and many different colors, which matched the childish side of her personality.

Lavi walked over to Road, who sat down in front of one of her many in-progress art pieces. Placing on had on his hip, he leaned over to see what she was doing. She was adding shading to some dark and ominous clouds. Road looked up and asked, "Do you want to sit down?" She pointed to an empty chair directly across from where she was situated right now.

He sat down and merely watched Road as she was concentrating deeply over her piece. Two minutes passed and she switched this work for a blank sheet of paper. Road commanded that Lavi not move an inch from his current position. He agreed, realizing that she was going to sketch him; the thought made him giddy and also nervous. She jabbed at him with her pencil and ordered that he stop bouncing in his seat. He nodded.

Etching on the paper, Road concentrated. Lavi could tell by her expression; her face was contorted in a complex look with her lips pursed and her tongue slightly sticking out. A few times every couple minute she'd glance over, hold her pencil up at him, squint and then go back to sketching. This took about twenty minutes and afterwards Lavi had to stretch for a while since staying in one position for a long time made his muscles stiff. He was just glad he had picked a relaxed stance instead of an awkward formal pose to get drawn in.

Lavi wandered behind Road and examined her work. Although it was just a quick and rough sketch—according to her—she had done an excellent job; she had really captured the moment, from his giddiness to admiration. She had a great eye for detail as well; the inclusion of the light in his eyes, or the few stray hairs that had fallen into his face, or the light shading of his freckles; it all really made the drawing special. As he marveled at the piece she asked if he liked it. It took him less than a second to respond; he said of course he liked the sketch.

"I think you really captured the moment," added Lavi with a grin that made Road smile. She turned away and slipped off her stool. Road motioned for Lavi to follow her as she journeyed deeper into the obstacle course that was her studio. At the back there was a screen type door in the wall and she motioned Lavi in after she had opened said door.

Lavi was still amazed at the idea that pretty much the whole downstairs floor was all hers. Road's room was indeed almost as spacious as her studio. Her walls were a warm shade of light grey and, unlike the studio on the other side of the door, her floors were carpeted. Taking a hesitant step forward, Lavi took note of the decor; in the left corner was her bed, topped with neatly made purple sheets; to the right of her bed was a nightstand holding a few empty glasses and bottles of what looked to be rubbing alcohol; to the right of her nightstand was her closet. On the right wall was a sleek black desk covered in loose leaf paper and textbooks, and next to that was a pink pearl vanity table littered with different makeup supplies; on the back wall by the door was her dresser and a full length mirror. There seemed to be a nice sort of feng shui.

Road went to sit on the edge of her bed, and patted the spot beside her as a way of telling Lavi to get over there as well. He pulled himself away from memorizing her furniture and color scheme to take the offered. She grabbed his arm and pulled him back so that they were laying side by side on their backs. Road shifted her weight so she could turn onto her side to face Lavi. He grinned and did the same.

A little while passed before Lavi really understood why neither was talking just yet; they were alone downstairs in Road's bedroom with their faces and bodies practically an inch apart. He wasn't sure what to make of this; on one hand Lavi wanted to just laugh off the moment and make a joke, while the other half of him wanted to lean in a kiss her. He knew he was dating Mimi, but as of recent it seemed like she was avoiding him. Also Road was a sweet, pretty girl who had shown mild interested in him, unless he was getting these signals wrong and she actually just wanted to be friends; plus this was the first time she had ever invited him over instead of them just loitering around the mall or something, so he didn't want to mess anything up or make her uncomfortable. This isn't to say he still didn't like Mimi, just that over time he had calmed down and wasn't as into her as he had thought he was; he liked her enough to still date her, but he'd rather go try dating someone else instead.

If anything this would be his one free pass for kissing Road and not be penalized; he could tell Road wanted to kiss him too, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. Lavi pushed himself off her bed and said he needed to go outside. He scrambled out her room and carefully avoided knocking over any pieces of art. Once outside he jumped down her porch steps and stood in the front yard.

He needed to calm down so he took out his pack of cigarettes from his pocket. Right now he was thankful that Tyki had been able to get him some for pretty cheap. Removing one from the pack, he lit up and inhaled. He felt a little more mellow, but not by much, though it took the edge off at least.

He stayed outside and finished two before figuring it was time to go back inside. Hopefully Road wasn't pissed or anything because she could get really unpleasant when she got angry—Lavi knew from the stories his group of friends told.

Knocking twice, Lavi went into her room. Road was just laying on her stomach on the carpeted floor reading a fashion magazine. She glanced up when he entered the room, but then turned her gaze back to the glossy pages. She didn't seem upset, according to Lavi's ability to read people, but he still advanced with caution.

Lavi awkwardly sat down across from her, not saying a word. He just waited for her to finish reading. Lavi dare not interrupt her unless he wanted to incur her wrath any more than he already had, probably. Why did he have such a hard time reading her? It was as easy as breathing for him to read anyone else, but with Road it was different; it was like she was on a completely different level than everyone else, like a real enigma.

Lavi couldn't understand how it took fifty minutes to read through a sixteen page magazine that mostly consisted of pictures, but Road probably reread each page twenty times just to make him wait. Finally she closed the magazine and put it on the ground in front of her.

"Why?" That was the first word that escaped her lips. Lavi, who had been idling himself by picking at the carpet, glanced up with a perplexed look in his eyes.

Processing what was being asked of him, Lavi tapped a finger to his lip and chewed on his cheek. He still hadn't formed an answer thirty seconds later, so he posed a question to clarify what he thought was being asked. "Why did I leave or why didn't I kiss you?"

"Why are you dating a girl who you have no feelings for?" Lavi was shocked, not that she would say something like that, but that she was spot on. It was as if she had gotten a sneak peak into the deep crevices of his heart where he kept all his secrets hidden. He felt a little unsettled, to say the least.

He paused to collect himself before responding. Lavi didn't have an easily explainable answer for Road; he rarely felt that spark with Mimi anymore, but he had fallen into a comfortable lifestyle knowing that she was by his side. He knew that he could never even begin to rekindle their old spark; Lavi just couldn't bring himself to end the relationship, at least not directly. Mimi was really nice and Lavi didn't know how to break up with her—this would be his first experience having to break up with someone.

"I...don't really know..." admitted Lavi, "...I'm sorry." What he really wanted was to break up with Mimi and date Road, but he didn't know how to break it to her. He'd never broken up with a girl before and according to chick flicks breaking up usually meant his eternal demise. Things weren't looking good for him.

Road curiously tilted her head, and in the most casual of tones asked, "If you don't want to break it to Mimi, then why not just cheat on her. No one but us will know."

Lavi was shocked at the suggestion. Of course he'd thought of that, but he never thought he was that kind of guy or that Road would even be okay with that. He had always gotten the impression that Road didn't like Mimi, but he never would have fathomed that she'd care this little for his girlfriend. This was a decision he didn't want to make, one he couldn't make.

"If you think that cheating on Mimi will hurt her more than a break up then you're wrong," continued Road, seeing that Lavi wasn't going to say anything.

Now he felt like he was out of some loop because cheating usually did hurt more than breaking up—according to romance movies. Did Road know something he didn't? She was so calm about this, she had to know something otherwise what would be the point of saying he should cheat on Mimi. Lavi gave her a curious expression, silently asking what she knew.

Road sighed and scoot closer to Lavi. "If you really want to know, Mimi has already moved on from you. She's just playing the role of a loving girlfriend."

"W-What do you mean?" He didn't want to know, but he couldn't stop himself from asking. Actually he was pretty sure he knew already but he needed to make sure.

"Mimi is cheating on you with Lulubell."


End file.
